The former CEO of Shell, Ben van Beurden, believes that the oil and gas major, which is the most valuable company on the London Stock Exchange, is ”massively undervalued” and that the company would benefit from a listing in the US, according to the Financial Times.

Van Beurden tells the newspaper that Shell’s board has previously decided that a US listing would be ”more than the company can swallow”. He highlights that companies listed in the US benefit from more venture capital, higher valuations and ”more positive” attitudes from investors compared to companies listed in Europe.

”All of these factors work against companies listed in Europe. And I think that’s going to be an increasingly prominent problem. Shell is massively undervalued despite the share price being at an all-time high,” he tells the Financial Times.

Van Beurden’s comments about Shell add insult to injury for the London Stock Exchange, which has seen a number of notable delistings in recent years, including building materials producer CHR and packaging company Smurfit Kappa.

The current CEO of Shell, Wael Sawan, has also expressed concern about the UK stock market. Like van Beurden, he points out that the market as a whole is significantly undervalued. Van Beurden adds to the Financial Times that the valuation discount between US and UK companies ”has been around for a long time and will take a long time, perhaps an infinite time, to close”.